St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-09-22
Consequences Of the Failure
to Confirm the Court House
Heating Contract. At
Interest Lost on the Invest
ment and a General Stop
page Of Inside Work. IN
More Than One Thousand Dol
lars Daily Estimated tor
Be Thus Tied Up. OF
Possible Suits for Delay--How
the Difficulties Might i ~
Be Adjusted. 'a

To showfjust what the delay occa-
stoned by the refusal of the joint COM
mission to confirm the Noepel steam
heating contract, awarded by the court
house commission, will cost the public,
it can be considered that the full
amount of money which has been al
lowed up to date upon the building is
$4,000, and DR.. Day suggests that
there is now enough due to make the
figures reach 100000, the interest upon
which is $4,000 annually, so that the
loss to the public for each day in inter-
est alone will amount to little over
S54. 1t is intended to spend about
81 ZOO, 900 upon the building. Of this,
the Bohn Manufacturing company'S
contract for woodwork and hardware
amounts to about S130000; Johnson
Bros. IL LOOMS, for furnishings, $50, 900.
and Cullen'S, for piaStering, S55, 600:
This means that contracts amounting to
nearly 100000, which could be COM.
pleted before the warm months of next
year, must necessarily be delayed until
next summer at least, if the Steamboat
ing can't be put in to enable work
to go on during the winter months. To
defer this 100000 worth of work for six
months means daily inconvenience, if
not dead loss practically, amounting
to 81 ,093; at least, that so much money
is tied up every day. In addition to
this are the suits for delay which may
arise, and the commission would prob
ably be made to pay for all the damages
and losses sustained by the contractors.
The work upon the court house which
can be done in any one month will fig
uae up, on rough estimate, about $685.:
900 or $4,000, and this estimate is said
to be conservative. The Bohn Manu-.
featuring company has large lot of oak
timber already provided, which, if the
company cannot use at once, will be a
big damage to it. Cullen will not. be
able to do any plastering unless heat
is provided, and the delay to the BOhn
and Cullen contracts will throw john!
son Bros. & LoOmis behind. Then
there is to be considered the general
damage to the official business of the
city and county which delay in finish;
ing the court house will cause, as the
present accommodations are insufficient
and inconvenient, and tend to prevent
dispatch in business. This means an
INCALCULABLEL LOSS .,ie
to the public. So each days delayfis
practically worth to the people $1,5Q0,
considering everything, work Deferred,
risks haZarded, interest due, the money
tied up and the inconvenience suffered
by the public for lack of proper official
accommodations. Matt Breen's stone
work is completed, Hough, Ketchamf&
Co. have the iron roof truSSeS all in,
Scribner's stating job will soon he fla
ished and the Chicago Fire PROBING and
Construction company has still plenty
of time in which to finish its 30,0O0jOb
of flooring and fire prOofing- The fFst
estimates allowed on the court house
q ma A 1l1,il zfn .
Matt Breen for eXcayating, masonry
and iron work. The court house COM
mission will meet again this afternoon
at O'Clock. DR.. Day says there is only
one way out of the dilemma, and that is
for the minority of the joint commission
to yield.
The steam heating contractors of this
city now say that NOepel, was not really
the contractor, that the man who was
the real contractor is H. p. Rugg, and
that NOepel was simply employed by
him. Rugg and Capt. Peter Berkey are
NOepel'S suretieS. DR.. Day says the
steam heaters are trying to prove too
much; that their great complaint is that
the contract was let outside of the city
instead of to st. Paul contractor, and
yet they begin to assert that it was III.
p. Rugg, of st. Paul, who got the con-
tract. He reiterates his determination
that he, as one of the court house COM
mission, will not consent to a reconsid-
Grafton of thenmatter. He says: IF,
after all the reports are published, one
of these disappointed bidders can
come forward and prove that we did
not do right, and that our action was
not for the best interest of the public at
large, then will consent to reconsider
the matter. But we took the particular
pains to send off to such experts as
Bell and Green to get their reports on
the award. They have their regulations
at stake, and could not afford to do other
than tell the truth in their reports"
Noepel is at present in the city,
bidding on numerous jobs about town.